UEFA bans Crimean clubs from playing in Russian competitions as of Jan 1, 2015

The European football associations union UEFA has prohibited Crimean clubs from playing in Russian competitions as of January 1, 2015, UEFA Secretary-General Gianni Infantino told a news conference.
The Russian Football Union will not be punished for letting three Crimean football clubs play in the championship of Russia’s second division in the 2014-15 season.
A special zone will be created in Crimea where football will be developing under UEFA auspices.
Vyacheslav Koloskov, the honorary president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), said earlier the final decision on the future of Russia’s Crimean clubs lay with FIFA and the next session of the FIFA executive board would be held in Marrakesh, Morocco, on December 18.
RFU Executive Committee permitted the Crimean clubs to obtain licenses at the end of July, and they were included in the second division of the Russian national championship.

The decision was decried by the football federation of Ukraine, the country that exercised sovereignty over Crimea before March 2014.
On August 22, UEFA took an intermediary decision to refrain from recognizing the participation of football clubs Simferopol, Sevastopol and Zhemchuzhina Yalta in Russia’s second division and ruled to hold a separate meeting between the RFU and the Ukrainian federation for tapping a compromise solution.
A four-partite meeting of FIFA, UEFA, Russian and Ukrainian representatives was organized in December. Participants in it decided to set up a workgroup that would settle the conflict situation.